


Kiss The Day Goodbye

by nobetterpicture



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 08:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5915623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobetterpicture/pseuds/nobetterpicture
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eiji starts off practice with a heavy question that keeps Oishi thinking and reminiscing all day long.</p><p>(or the Future AU/AR where Golden Pair continue to play tennis together that my heart needed because feelings)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kiss The Day Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago while listening to "A Chorus Line" soundtrack for some reason...but the inspiration and title specifically come from the song "What I Did For Love".
> 
>  
> 
> Really, I just needed to write a Golden Pair future AU where they continued to play tennis together because Golden Pair give me a lot of feelings and a lot of them are sad and that needs to stop. So, have some fluff :')

“Hey Oishi, if today was the last day we played tennis together...how would you feel?”

Oishi dropped his racket. No matter how long he’d known his doubles partner, Kikumaru Eiji truly, _honestly_ never failed to surprise him.

“Eiji?”

“What?” Eiji mumbled back, hair tie stuck between his teeth as he pulled his hair back into a small ponytail. It was certainly a different look than how he used to wear his hair short in middle school and the start of their high school career. ‘Cooler’ was how Eiji originally described it, even though he mainly used hair ties with cats on them, still borrowed from Oishi’s sister to this day.

But his mind was wandering, there was a question at hand.

“What do you mean ‘what’?! You asked such a serious question!” Oishi picked up his racket and lightly bopped Eiji on the head. “Oy, you’re not ditching me for someone else are you?”

Eiji whined at the touch, tightening his ponytail again before pulling his own racket out from between his legs. Oishi watched as he rolled the racket in his right hand, easily twisting it over his hand and wrist. He was avoiding an answer.

“Eiji…”

“I just…” Eiji twirled his racket until he had it in a normal grip and pointed it at the wrist brace on Oishi’s right hand. “Sometimes I wonder if you regret playing this long...with me. All the pain I’ve put you through...I think about it a lot. I haven’t always been nice to you.”

He wasn’t wrong. When they first met, Eiji had hated him. Well, maybe not hated, but they certainly didn’t get along. Oishi could never forget the first few times they played doubles together and how horrible they were. It’s almost like a dream that they were as close and amazing together as they were over ten years later.

“I suppose that’s true. I still can clearly recall you saying during nationals in our third year of middle school that you would never play doubles again as I was standing mere meters away from you…” Oishi laughed as he re-adjusted his wrist brace. “That really hurt at the time you know? It was bad enough that I had lost to Tezuka, but to have broken our promise and to see you hurt enough to never want to play doubles again.…”

“I wanted to hurt you as much as you hurt me.” Eiji replied, stretching his legs. “Nationals was our dream at the time and, well, it’s not like I knew you would come back. As much as I really wanted you to. So I did the only thing teen me knew how to do, I hurt you back.”

Oishi tilted his head, resting his racket on shoulder. “It didn’t really last long though...just that game. Which you won in such spectacular fashion with that declaration. Also, careful with your ankle stretches, you’ve been close to rolling them again during practice.”

“Gotcha. Help stretch my hamstrings?” Eiji laid on his back and raised his left leg for Oishi. He waited until Oishi started pushing to continue the conversation. “I can’t believe you remember that match so clearly though. How embarrassing…”

The way that Eiji scrunched up his face reminded Oishi of the days they used to be subjected to Inui juice. It was adorable. Also, thankfully, they now had a team nutritionist that actually made healthy and _tasty_ drinks for them. There wasn’t much reason for Eiji to make that face anymore.

He switched Eiji’s legs, careful to watch for any wincing. They couldn’t afford another missed tournament due to a pulled muscle. His wrist brace was already an extra precaution for practice alone.

“As embarrassing as it might have been, your love call worked. I wasn’t going to come back, you know. I was going to end my tennis career there.”

“What!?”

“I never told you?” Oishi let down Eiji’s leg. “With you in singles together with Echizen and Tezuka, then Fuji and Taka and Inui and Kaidoh for doubles and Momo as a reserve, I figured I wasn’t needed. We were strong enough to win nationals in my mind and that was the promise I made with Tezuka...but then you had to go and call out for me again.”

The memory of a victorious young Eiji yelling the crowd that singles was too lonely made him smile.

“How could I say no to the Golden pair, to _you_ , Eiji?”

The blush on Eiji’s face was obvious in the morning sun, especially with no hair to hide behind. But before he could respond, their coach walked onto the court. It was time to work.

-

During practice, Oishi realized that he never really answered Eiji’s original question.

The question itself brought back so many memories, enough that they had gotten sidetracked while stretching. Most of the memories were happy, but some of them were painful. They, as a pair, had fought just as much as they got along. Which was to say, they fought a lot.

They lost a lot too, especially after high school when the competition started to get really serious. There was a year where they lost every match they played in except for two. They had thought that having Synchro was enough to go pro, but that assumption was quickly shattered.

It was hard, just as hard as their first matches starting out in middle school. But there was one thing, one person, that always kept Oishi going no matter what happened: Kikumaru Eiji.

Why? Because Eiji was always there for him. Tezuka might had been his best friend, but Eiji was… _Eiji_. He was his partner. Once they really got to know each other and became a solid doubles pair, they never were apart for long.

He always made Oishi smile, always had a hand out to help him up when he fell, an ice pack for his wrist before even he noticed it was sore. Eiji knew. Eiji was there.

It was for that reason that Oishi knew that he could never, _would_ never say no to Eiji about anything. Eiji wanted to go to high school together so they could play together and master Synchro? Definitely. Eiji wanted to practice even harder and make the olympic team so they could truly be the best in the world? Fine. Eiji wanted to waste their rare day off of practice going to Tokyo Disney Sea so he could tease Oishi in Mickey ears? Whatever.

If Eiji wanted to stop being a doubles pair…

If Eiji ever asked what his real feelings toward him outside of tennis were…

Well, Oishi could never lie to Eiji either. He’d just been lucky to dodge giving a serious answer to that last question to anyone that asked for years now.

The first and foremost thing to them had always been tennis. After tennis was winning, then staying healthy, then everything else. There was no time for romantic feelings or serious discussions that could ruin what they had.

Though something was... _there_. But Oishi was never...could ever be sure enough to act on it. It was dangerous.

Regardless, Eiji was his reason for everything. Without Eiji, he had no clue where he would be in life right now. And that’s why he was perfectly fine with the way things had been-

“Shuu?”

The sound of the nickname drew him out of his thoughts and he turned to frown at Eiji.

“I thought I told you not to call me that!”

“But it’s cute! Shuu~” Eiji grinned, twirling his racket around his middle finger. Oishi’s frown turned into a glare. Eiji’s grin only grew wider. “I could call you Shuu-chan, you know.”

“Don’t you dare-”

“Shuu-chan~ don’t miss the ball next time~”

“ _EI-JI_ ".

“Could you STOP BICKERING AND GET BACK TO PRACTICE?”

-

Thankfully, the day ended without anything injuries. They won all their practice sets and went into the locker rooms in a good mood.

Despite feeling odd at the start of practice thanks to Eiji’s question, Oishi felt much lighter after reminiscing. And, he’d had time to think of his answer.

“So, I think I have an answer to your question?”

Eiji slowed down and turned to look back.

“What question?” The tone of his voice was innocent, but Oishi had known Eiji for too long to believe it. He’d lost too many things over the years by falling for the supposed innocence of his partner.

“Eiiiiji...you were the one to ask in the first place.” He walked up and locked their arms together.

“If today was the last day that we played tennis together, I think that I would be happy.”

Oishi’s shoulder nearly popped out as Eiji went to a rare full stop.

“Happy? Hap…Tch.” Eiji shrugged his arm away, shoving his hands into his jersey pockets. “That’s certainly not the answer I was expecting.”

“But isn’t it the right one?” Oishi knew his answer would sound weird...but it was true. “We’ve spent how many years together now? Twelve?”

“Thirteen.”

“Of course you would know that.” He smiled and linked their arms again, gently tugging Eiji to walk again. “Thirteen years...How many good times have we had?”

From the corner of his eye, he could see Eiji frowning.

“A lot.”

“And how many fights have we had?”

“...A lot of those too.”

“Do you regret any of it?”

Finally, Eiji met his eyes again, slightly panicked.

“No!”

“Then there’s your answer.” Carefully, Oishi reached into Eiji’s pocket to pull out his hand and laced their fingers together. “If there’s nothing to regret, then there’s nothing to be sad about. If today was the end, I wouldn’t cry. I would be happy that I was able to make it this far with you.”

There was a squeeze of hands before Oishi found himself with arms full of Eiji. Nothing really had changed since middle school in that sense.

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Hey now-” With neither of his hands free, Oishi knocked his head into the side of Eiji’s. “Are you questioning my judgement? The judgement that’s won us so many matches and titles?!”

The only response was what sounded like a sniffle against Oishi’s shoulder. Sometimes, it was hopeless. He shifted Eiji’s weight up a bit.

“You could at least get on my back so you don’t kill my arms for practice tomorrow.”

The speed that Eiji slipped onto his back, legs curling tight around his waist, wasn’t surprising. He really gave in his partner too easily. But with the smile pressed against his neck, Oishi couldn’t really complain. His body leeched Eiji’s warmth just like a sunflower in the summer sun and here in the cool spring air, it was even nicer.

They spent the rest of the walk home not talking, instead just appreciating the comforting sound of each other’s breathing and the soft sounds of night.

-

It wasn’t until they reached their apartment that Oishi even thought of it.

“What about you, Eiji?” Oishi kicked off his shoes as Eiji stored their tennis bags in the closet.

“What about what?” He’d let his hair down and was running a hand through it, yawning.

“Your answer to your own question. How would you feel if today was the last day of us playing together?”

“Oh. That.” Eiji picked at the tape on his cheek. “That’s easy. I would be happy.”

Oishi truly was blessed with the greatest amount of restraint and patience. He sent a quick thanks in his head to his parents before giving Eiji a bit of an exasperated look.

“Not for the same reason as you!! I would be happy because...Well."

"Well?"

"Because...I...wait. Come closer.” Eiji motioned quickly with his hand.

They were the only ones in the house, there was no reason for Eiji to be careful. Regardless, the hesitance on Eiji's face made Oishi move in closer. It was probably some sort of joke. But at least Eiji was trying to smile as he got closer, and that was somewhat reassuring.

“I’d be happy because...I’d finally be able to do this without thinking too much.”

Thinking was the only thing that Oishi couldn’t do as Eiji leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. It was the longest few seconds he’d felt since he watched his net ball barely win them their first pro title years ago.

Eiji’s hair brushing against his cheek made him open his eyes again, staring everywhere around his partner’s face to see that yes, this was real. Yes, they had just kissed.

“I- Eiji…”

“It’s okay right? Right?” There was actual fear in his voice and Oishi leaned his forehead against Eiji’s.

“It’s..it’s more than okay. I just, you surprised me! In a good way!” Laughter bubbled up his throat because it was funny. It was so funny that Eiji, Kikumaru Eiji, would be the one to make the first move. That Eiji would do this when he was thinking about feelings earlier that day. That this was probably the reason that Eiji asked such serious question out of the blue in the first place.

Soon enough, Eiji’s laughter followed and they ended up in a pile of limbs on the floor, out of breath like they just had another practice. Oishi ended up on top of Eiji, for once, and propped his chin up on his chest.

“So only if we stop playing together, huh?”

“Or if we win a gold medal. Then coach can’t complain, right?” There was a serious look in Eiji’s eyes. He’d thought about this a lot. Probably more than Oishi himself.

“Aren’t we already gold though? The Golden Pair?” Oishi replied, reaching up a hand to tuck back some of the hair in Eiji’s face.

Eiji snorted. “That’s a lame pickup line, Shuu-chan.”

“ _EIJI_ I told you not to call me that!!” He dug his hands into Eiji’s sensitive sides and started what would be a long tickle fight. Nothing was different from normal.

-

When they finally settled down and started getting ready for bed, Eiji pulled Oishi in for a tight hug, head tucked in his shoulder.

“I’ve waited so long and I won’t say it now but...if we win gold. Oishi.”

“ _When_ we win gold, Eiji. But even if we don’t, with or without tennis, remember. We’ll always be the Golden Pair.”

That, at least, would never change.


End file.
